Prime people make up for faltering UK performance in Asia

Prime people, global specialist recruitment business, faced a fall in profits in the first half due to poor market conditions in the UK but has made up for it in Asian markets.

Market conditions in the period became softer for the group’s UK business. Operating profit fell to £0.76m in the first half ended 30 September 2016 compared to £1.06m in 2015, which was consistent with expectations. Profit before tax decreased to £0.76m from £1.06m in 2015.

This was however offset by the group’s businesses in Asia performing “strongly”.

Group revenue increased by 12.55% for the period to £11.48m.

Net fee income (NFI) in the period was also higher 1.87% higher at £6.33m with strong performance particularly in the Hong Kong and Singapore business units. While NFI in the UK decreased by 12.82% from £3.9m to £3.4m the NFI in Asia increased by 36.84% from £1.9m to £2.6m.

Administrative costs increased from £5.15m to £5.57m driven by talent investment and higher commission costs in Asia, in line with the fee income growth in the region.

Basic earnings per share for the period decreased to 4.92p from 6.97p. Interim dividend was kept constant at 1.75p.

The group's net cash position improved to £1.34m from £1.04m

Looking ahead the board feels: “Sentiment in the UK property sector has improved but there is uncertainty for the sector in the medium term. In Asia we expect similar performance from our businesses in the second half and increased opportunities for growth in the medium and long term.”

The share price fell 3.08% to 94.50p at 1428 GMT on Wednesday.